


Made of Ivory

by Arlzureinne_Karale



Category: End Roll (Video Game)
Genre: Family, Gen, Headcanon, Light Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-05
Updated: 2017-07-05
Packaged: 2018-11-28 04:12:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,110
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11409957
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arlzureinne_Karale/pseuds/Arlzureinne_Karale
Summary: No one said everything good is always sugar and spices.





	Made of Ivory

**Author's Note:**

> End Roll belongs to Segawa. I'll give up my headcanon of Walter as Russell's guardian if you pry it from my cold, dead hands.

There was so many things he don’t know.

He was still a middle-schooler, or was supposed to be. The boy had actually, honestly forgotten what grade he is in ever since he dreamed. And back then when he was still treading reality, he didn’t really care about lessons and school—not at all, _not at all_.

Not because his only friend didn’t really care about that, either. Rather than him, his friend had a more concrete reason as to why he didn’t attend some of classes; the young brunet’s family was in a dire need of money, so that was why he pushed the importance of school to the back of his mind in exchange of actually searching for a way of living.

But the dreamer?

He was more concerned about how to survive rather than the fact that mitochondria is the powerhouse of a cell. He was more troubled with how could he hold out in his own house rather than to calculate the speed of some virtual car sliding down a virtual hill. He was more agitated with how could he see one more tomorrow without shades of bluish black marring his skin rather than special formula of trilateral.

He was more pertrubed on how to stay alive.

Nonetheless, he did know basic biology.

The sunshine-haired boy know some animals’ horns are mostly made of keratin, the same protein found in hair or fingernails. He did know they were mostly solid to the touch, unpleasantly hard and firm—not to mention expensive for some reasons.

But everytime his gaze caught the sight of a certain horned doctor in his so-called happy dream, Russell Seager couldn’t help but to quietly ask himself, out of pure curiosity.

What are Kantera’s horns made of?

 

* * *

“Doctor’s, what?”

Tabasa McNeil blinked exactly thrice, as if trying so hard to process the question thrown to him right a moment before, yet still managing to fail miserably. Pure confusion twinkled in his eyes, as the sheeps he was currently herding bleated.

( But Russell swore Tabasa’s sheeps were anything but bleating. )

“Doctor’s horns,” Russell repeated his question, slower this time—almost on the verge of spelling. In case that, one way or another, helped. “... What are those made of?”

The older noiret made a face that vaguely says ‘Umm, how should I know?’ but then, a smile touched the corners of his lips; looked half-awkwardly but also half-amusedly. As if Russell’s question actually trickled his interest with its childlike spirit of inquiry.

“I don’t know,” Tabasa finally answered, his voice soft and slow—gentle at its finest. But before Russell could feel disheartened upon the obvious as well as expected answer, the hooded young man continued with a mild hum. “Why don’t you ask him yourself?”

Russell hesitated a second too long, and it was seemingly written on his visage, because right after that, Tabasa mumbled almost inaudibly, “Ah, but it won’t be polite, huh.”

Because both of them didn’t know whether horns, and mayhaps wings also, were acceptable topics to bring up in a conversation with drakens. Althought they never seemed particularly hostile toward the topic; Kantera was indeed the only doctor residing in Nameless Town, but differences were never pleasant to talk about.

“... I guess.” Russell didn’t really want to ask the Informant, especially something as petty as this. And it wasn’t like that splitting image of his would know about it anyway, considering the Informant would pretty much throw a useless riddle instead.

Tabasa tilted his head to the side, covering the lower part of his face as blue eyes darted to the side; thinking. For a moment, there was silence, while Russell shifted his gaze to elsewhere possible but the judging sheeps bleating around them, whispering his guilt.

“Oh!” A smile quickly formed itself on the older male’s visage, eyes brightened when a brilliant idea crossed his mind. The younger dreamer blinked upon the cheerful sound of exclamation, voiceless questions flashed in the darker shades of blue that were his eyes.

Tabasa chuckled when he saw Russell’s silent but apparent enthusiasm, “Why don’t we check it ourselves? Just a little tap won’t hurt anyone, after all. If Doctor’s horns are solid, then we would know what it were made of. But we have to do it secretly.”

The boy nodded in agreement after a quick thinking; just a little tap won’t hurt anyone, indeed. Especially a soft tap of finger. For once, he wanted to satisfy his own small curiosity much like this, and it was already a blessing for Tabasa to be there to help him.

( Russell vaguely remembered how badly he wanted Tabasa to be his big brother. )

Their first attempt was simple, trying to touch Kantera’s horns as casually as possible.

Deliveryuu said the doctor was on a walk, so Tabasa and Russell rushed outside and, as quietly as possible, searched for the sight of the platinum-haired draken. It wasn’t hard since Nameless Town was a very small place, and thus they found him immediately.

Upon spotting Kantera in an intersection between Informant’s house and Saxon’s office, Tabasa quickly hid in one of the trees as Russell walked down the deserted street.Their plan was to put some leaves and small branches on Kantera’s head, and then Russell would have a concrete reason to touch Kantera’s head—and possibly his horns, too.

When the draken caught the sight of Russell, he stopped walking right in front of Tabasa’s tree, a small smile bloomed on his visage as he greeted the young dreamer for delightful pleasantries, “Hello, Russell. Are you taking a walk, too?”

“I ... Guess?” Russell then glanced at Tabasa, who nodded in response and slowly shook the tree. Leaves floated down like snow, some of it fell to Kantera’s head, tangled along strands of platinum hair as the owner looked clueless of what happened.

Okay, here goes nothing; “Doctor, there is a—”

A loud thud was heard, and both Russell as well as Kantera turned to the source.

Tabasa tittered, hands hugging the tree. He must be surprised of something when realization finally hit him. Tabasa’s face paled considerably, almost bluish, when the animalkeeper whispered fearfully, “I think ... a caterpillar just fell inside of my sweater.”

A caterpillar did fall inside of Tabasa’s clothes, after all.

The second attempt was to make Kantera bow down just enough for Russell to brush his hand to the ivory-colored horns. Still simple and as casual as possible. Tabasa suggested Russell to drop something then asked Kantera to pick it up, he agreed.

Kantera was conversing with Mireille Nif when Russell carried his second mission, it was all and good before the dreamer miscalculated his steps. Instead of dropping something, he fell flat down to the ground. And even if Kantera and Mireille frantically knelt down to help him up, his face throbbed painfully, he couldn’t even think straight.

Tabasa looked very concerned, but Russell still managed to keep a straight face.

Fortunately, both Russell and Tabasa were still far from done.

They tried anything they could do; from asking Deliveryuu for a little push to looping Gardenia Reitman for help, which didn’t really end well, since Deliveryuu almost leaked Russell and Tabasa’s intention while Gardenia got preoccupied by something else.

Their next attempt was to wait for Kantera to get distracted, and then Tabasa would lift Russell up high enough to touch the draken’s horns. It was very risky as well as difficult to imagine, but both of them were really running out of ideas.

The moment presented itself in the form of Cody Toscarina, who apparently visited the doctor for some advices regarding suspicious wild plants she found in the Dozing Forest.

When they were drowning in a deep conversation, Tabasa along with Russell tiptoed behind Kantera’s back, and when Cody glanced at the older male with pure confusion written plainly in her gaze, the animalkeeper shook his head quickly; shushing quietly.

When they were close enough, Tabasa lifted Russell up.

The dreamer was lighter than he had previously thought, it was almost effortless to pick him up. Slowly and oh so very silently, Russell reached to touch Kantera’s horns.

If only the said draken didn’t turn and gaze at them with quirked eyebrows.

Cody bursted into a giggle as Tabasa flinched.

“What are you two trying to do, really?” Kantera shook his head a moment after, no fury evident in his visage. If anything, he was actually as amused as Cody, the pleasant emotion painted his eyes with lighter shades of twilight.

Tabasa gently let Russell down, laughed nervously as he tugged at his hood to hide embarrassment that brimmed on his face, “Umm, trying to touch Doctor’s horns?”

“Why?”

Russell was the one who spoke, “I ... want to know what are Doctor’s horns made of.”

There was a short, stunned silence.

“You should have said it, I would let you touch it without hurting yourself,” Kantera said as the red-eyed doctor knelt down in front of Russell, tilting his head slightly so Russell could reach for his horns easily. Strands of platinum hair almost covered the ornaments he wore around his horns, but Russell could trace flowers-like pattern carved on it.

The blue-eyed boy didn’t waste any second, he quickly seized the chance which presented itself and softly grazed his fingertips to the ivory-colored horns, “... It’s solid.”

Kantera chuckled.

But Russell’s curiosity remained.

“Doctor ... What are your horns made of?”

The draken hummed softly.

“Come here, I’ll tell you a secret.”

When the younger male stepped closer, Kantera covered his mouth with a hand then shifted his position so he could properly whisper to Russell’s ears. After answering the apparently haunting question of the dreamer’s, the doctor backed off with a smile.

The sunshine-haired boy blinked. Then turned to gaze at Tabasa who was also seemingly curious of what Kantera’s horns are made of, for blue eyes were clouded with intrigue.

“And so?”

Russell snapped from his daydream.

The boy blinked, surprise laced his visage as his entire world suddenly changed in the blink of eyes. Gone were the eyes-bearing trees and deserted street of Nameless Town, along with a young man with eyes as blue as the sky and hair as black as starless night.

There was only a brown-haired woman who patiently smiled at him.

Russell shifted his gaze, painfully aware of the doctor’s coat that was worn by the lady; he didn’t catch her name. White greeted his vision, the smell of antiseptic slapped him right in the face, and the sheeps laughed with those croacked giggles of theirs.

The lady asked him once again—or perhaps for the –nth times. Her voice was soft and gentle, much like a certain nurse with green eyes. Russell was actually impressed with her patience, the hospital had already changed his doctor many times because he refused to talk, and he had already lost count since once upon a time. Even that splitting image of his, who lurked deep behind his unconsciousness, kept quiet about it.

“What are your doctor’s horns made of, Russell?”

She meant Kantera.

Russell gazed up. Pale lips finally opened to answer :

“Diamond dust ... and flowers seeds.”

The nameless doctor quirked her eyebrows in query. The finally awaken dreamer did expect that kind of reaction; what kind of horns are made of that? But Kantera’s were solid, and it wasn’t keratin. After all, dreams full of logic would be boring, wouldn’t it?

( Tabasa only laughed as if he already expected what drakens’ horns were made of. )

“Flowers seeds?” Finally, the female doctor asked again. Like all other adults, her voice hinted in judgement—of questioned belief, unlike a certain Reseacher who was actually seemingly interested in the newfound knowledge about Russell dream’s inhabitants.

For a second, the awaken dreamer could see black flowers dragged themselves closer.

He did satisfy his curiosity, was hoping for the world to know was too much after all?

For the longest moment, Russell didn’t nod nor answer. He glanced to the windows, where his reflection painted to the sky and had a dark shades of green as the color of irises instead of the dull blue he used to see every morning in the bathroom’s mirror.

“It says ... when drakens died, flowers will bloom from their horns.”

He didn’t know why, but the answer somehow wrote a nice image about death—about his imaginary dragons’ death. Because when a draken died, another life would grow from them; flowers. And Russell wondered if flowers would grow on his corpse, too.

But Russell wasn’t a draken.

Surely the only flowers that would grow from him are black lilies instead of ivory.

**.**

**Author's Note:**

> I don't have any defense regarding the ending, I'm sorry.
> 
> Informant made appearance, like, twice. I'm impressed I can resisted my urge to write him aimlessly like I always have. Other characters also only appeared for a second, that's why I'm not sure if should I tag them or not. So yeah, umm, I'm sorry if you thought of this fic as .... something else?
> 
> I believe Russell still has that tiny little bit curiosity a teen in their early teen (?) would have. This is actually a request from a certain friend, and is supposed to end with brotherly fluff, but my brain is always on a constant angst-standby mode, then boom, you can see what happened.
> 
> Lastly, I'm gonna say thank you to Freyyyy, as always, for proofreading it!
> 
> Sorry for any grammar mistakes, thank you for reading~!  
> -Azureinne K.


End file.
